A DEMOLITION firm has been sentenced for knocking down a building containing hundreds of asbestos ceiling tiles and putting the lives of workers and local residents at risk.

Clitheroe-based IBT Contracting Ltd was fined £10,800 at South Lakeland Magistrates’ Court for failing to safely remove 166 square metres of asbestos ceiling before carrying out work at a former photography factory at Staveley Mill in August last year.

The court was told that the Health and Safety Executive was alerted to the problem by concerned residents who feared asbestos boards had not been removed before demolition of the building began.

Managing director Ian Tomlinson pleaded guilty to three breaches of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006, for removing asbestos without a licence, exposing workers to asbestos fibres, and allowing the fibres to spread to neighbouring areas.

Magistrates were told that despite the firm learning from a building survey that the former photography factory contained asbestos ceiling tiles, it did not take any action to have the material taken away.

Instead the firm pushed ahead with knocking down the roof allowing fibres to be exposed to the air. Mr Tomlinson's son, Ryan, was the only member of staff working at the unit after the fibres had been released.

The HSE’s Inspector of Health Allen Shute said that a 'considerably large' amount of asbestos fibres had been released.

He said: “This company put the lives of workers in danger by cutting corners, and not using a licensed contractor to safely remove the asbestos ceiling tiles.

“Several houses back onto the site of the factory so local residents were also put at risk, although luckily the level of their exposure to asbestos fibres is likely to have been relatively low.

“However, the workers on the site will now have to live with the knowledge that they may develop a deadly asbestos-related disease in the years to come because of the actions of IBT Contracting.”

Tomlinson told the hearing that he had been told by an engineer the asbestos had been removed from the building.

"We take our work very seriously," said Tomlinson, who has never been in trouble with the authorities before. "And we take health and safety very seriously.

"If we came across notifiable asbestos we have a company in Preston we use to have it dealt with properly."

The business was also ordered to pay £3,638 court costs and a £15 surcharge.